William’s HO layout

“I started the Valley Stream Railroad in the summer of 2003. The scale is HO, the time period would be between 1900-1910, it’s late fall and winter is just around the corner in New England. I have been a train buff for as long back as I can remember and a modeler most of my life.

The layout is in a small bedroom, around the room single track with several sidings and a couple of passing’s. All the locomotives are steam with sound. A couple of friends helped me with the bench work and the wiring. The bench work was built 2′ x 4′ sections with 2 x 2 legs, 1/2” plywood on the top, and topped off with a cut up 4 x 8 sheet of 4 inch thick foam.

The foam was excellent when it comes to scenery and it diminishes any sound along with the road bed. The Valley Stream is my own private railroad name as I did not want to follow any prototype railroad. Free lance is very satisfying for me.

Scenery is what I love to do thus the simple loop around for the railroad. Most of the building are kits or were “kit bashed”. Since space was limited the large building against the back drop were cut down the center and spliced end to end. Most of the structures I was building before I started the layout.

There was no great track layout just my own sketches and drawings. I just knew what I wanted to do and what I wanted it to look like. The track is code 70 for a more realistic look for the steam power. The rocks were pebbles from the road., the winter trees were made from twigs in the yard along with the use of. a glue pot then spray painted (time and patience on the trees).

Since the base board was 4″ foam planting all the trees was easy. I used sifted real dirt with white glue for some scenes, Woodland Scenics material,the snow piles are crushed white foam, lots of cellu clay (papier mache) mixed with water vermiculite (mineral) for the ground and embankments. The back drop I painted using spray paint and the effect was just what I wanted……………..cold and cloudy.

A friend of mine mention the layout to the local news paper and they came over to see it and take pictures. On December 26, 2010 the layout and I were on the front page of Sundays paper. The railroad was also filmed and put on the local news. Needless to say it’s been fun to have that to share with others.

The railroad will probably never be entirely finished as the details seem to be endless. Hope you enjoy the photos.

William”

A huge thanks to William for sharing these pics. We’ve had a nice run of scenery pics over the last few days. Let’s keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to start tinkering on your own layout.

54 Responses to William’s HO layout

William
Your passion for modeling in clearly evident in this exceptional layout. Your sullen brooding sky is a masterpiece. I am only begining my OO guage Great Western English inspired layout and agree that a fictisios theam frees the creative juices.l only dream to come near your high standard.
Michael
Australia

My personal favorite “scene” on this layout is that of the business man standing on the corner watching the kids playing. He puts his briefcase down and is likely reminiscing his own childhood not too many years prior. He will watch for a while and then it is back to work. It reflects many of the remarks posted here and my own reason for building this.

Love it…I too am a scenery nut, but I also love watching the trains, especially if they are coming out of a different hideaway tunnel…..My favorite scene is the lone box car between two buildings… Bravo!

I am new to HO and just beginning my R.R. this one of the best 4X8 layouts I have seen. Your attention to detail and staging makes it almost real life. I would appreciate if you could provide a track layout visual and overhead view of The Valley Stream R.R. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work you are a real inspiration. Ray

“🎶 …and I say to myself, what a wonderful world!…🎵” And, it is a wonderful world you have made, William. If only I could step back into that time, just for a little while. Thank you for sharing with us!

Nice work on a hard to model prototype (early 20th century. Nice detailing. I was impressed by your use of the big, Heljan I believe, building in the first picture where you sliced it down the middle to double its size. I use the same building on my Abingdon & Crane for part of my brewery. I did the same thing with a Life-Like building, thus making it twice its size, and it is against a flat surface. Keep up the great work!

Winter is the most difficult season to model and is often overdone on layouts. Your layout has captured the feel and mood of that time of year to perfection. In addition it is a beautiful period piece. Wonderful and skilled work. You have the eye and talent of an artist which is made even more difficult when working with a 3D model. I truly enjoyed seeing your pictures. Thank you for sharing it with all of us.

This is another inspiring layout. superb work.
I will soon have an opportunity to do the same in our double garage, an around the wall, but in Garden scale.
This would be an ideal fit.
thank you for sharing.
Dick

Very nice backdrops. I am looking for ideas for my “North Georgia Division of The Pennsylvania Railroad. also around the walls of a storage building. Backdrops appear to be something I might be able to handle that would cover the bare walls behind the trains. Mine is “O” guage with tinplate track. Not meant to be all that realistic. Just something to enjoy that was bought here and there mostly on Ebay for cheap.

Love Fall/winter scenes or as in this transitional seasons.
I live in the Northeastern part of the U.S. and love the change of seasons. Fall. Being my favorite, would never live in Florida. Because of that. Your RR scene setups ate perfect, great work. I can see wjy it was in a magazine and on TV

Incidentally, the Trainland store that William mentioned in a response is still there, as is the Long Island Railroad’s Valley Stream station. The Trainland store is in Freeport, Long Island, NY, and is one stop farther eastward from the Valley Stream station. The folks who own that store (as well as another one by the same name in Brooklyn, NY), are nearby neighbors of mine.

I am a big fan of steam locomotives, the steam era, old-time buildings and unique scenery; William’s layout has it all. Thank you William for sharing this bit of your historical ideas with us.
Regards, Tom (USA).

Hi William, a very big we’ll done to you. May I make one suggestion to you, and in my so doing, please know I only wish to be constructive! Have you thought about painting the rails a rust colour? Any time I lay track it is what I do and the effect is awesome! Try a bit somewhere discrete and if you like the result, go nuts and do the lot.
Cheers
Pete